Lena Dunham listened to Taylor Swift whilst she wrote 'Girls'.

She told Entertainment Tonight: "Long before she was my friend, she was my friend in my head.

"I was listening to her while I wrote my first film, while I wrote the first season of 'Girls', while I wrote the second season of 'Girls' - so she's definitely a soundtrack to many of my feelings."

Meanwhile, Lena also gushed about the 'Shake It Off' hitmaker's image, calling her "a woman in control".

She said: "Her image is as a woman in control and as a woman in power, but it's also somewhat clean-cut, like the opposite of getting naked on television.

"She's one of the pop artists who noticeably isn't trafficking in her own sexuality. She has an America's Sweetheart quality, and I have sometimes like a quarter of Americans' demon quality.

"But she's really comfortable supporting what I do and saying why she thinks it can also have the power to speak to women."

The 'This is 40' actress also praised the 25-year-old singer's performances, comparing it to a Justin Bieber concert.

She added: "These girls are having peak emotional experience. I was at a Justin Bieber concert once - because Judd Apatow forced me to take his daughter because he didn’t want to - and I was like, This is horrible. This is like some kind of drug has been released into the arena and three-year-old girls are crying and humping things.

"But with Taylor, it's just pure unadulterated joy; it's 'transportative'."